


All That Remains

by ZellieAlmasy



Category: Final Fantasy, Final Fantasy XV
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-01-29
Updated: 2017-01-29
Packaged: 2018-09-20 18:07:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,944
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9504317
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ZellieAlmasy/pseuds/ZellieAlmasy
Summary: Fic idea after discussing some headcanons - The game hints at what happened during that 10 year time gap, but what happened to make the boys go their separate ways? Can Gladio and Ignis rekindle that old flame, or is 10 years too much time apart?





	

**Author's Note:**

> Soooo, the game leaves a lot of blanks to fill in, and I hope where I'm taking this all makes sense. Also gave a shot at writing from Iggy's perspective, so hopefully this is all ok. I will note that Gladio doesn't immediately come off in the best light, but without spoiling anything, I will say remember that this is Ignis' thoughts and interpretation, and also Gladio has his own personal reasons for the way he treats Ignis.
> 
> Teen rating for now, but you all know I don't mind getting my hands dirty when the story calls for it~

Ignis didn’t need his sight to know that Gladio had been driving more slowly than usual. He had spent enough time on the road to gauge the sway of the vehicle and the sound of wind gusting past to know that Gladio was deliberately being careful as their RV steadily continued west towards Lestallum.

The slow pace did make him feel a bit anxious. Ignis was eager to reach the safety of the city’s lights now that darkness had spread over the land. The longer it took to reach their destination, the greater the risk of being attacked by the daemons that now roamed freely. Though, he still didn’t complain, since they were escorting several civilians from a small outpost. They fit as many as they could into the RV, and the others piled into trucks, vans, or any other vehicles that were available. Ignis wouldn’t want to make their passengers uncomfortable by insisting on a fast, bumpy ride, or worse - risk losing the rest of the convoy. 

With Gladio behind the wheel and Prompto poking out the roof-hatch of the vehicle, keeping watch, that didn’t leave much else for Ignis to do. But what else _could_ he do? For all his practice maneuvering without vision, it didn’t count for much in a car. He couldn’t watch the road to relieve Gladio at the wheel, nor could he help Prompto keep an eye out for incoming daemons. Ignis offered multiple times that he was happy to help with anything they needed, but every time, Gladio insisted he just relax and look after the passengers. 

All his life, Ignis had a purpose. He knew his duty and dedicated his life to the service of Prince Noctis. But now, Noctis was gone, swallowed by the power of the crystal, with no way of knowing when he would ever return. The trio waited in Gralea as long as they could, but after several days, their supplies had diminished, and the daemon presence only continued to grow more and more dangerous. With the crystal showing no changes or no sign of returning their Prince, they realized that they had to move on. Life had to continue without Noct, for now. 

They used leftover equipment from the Empire to transport the crystal to Angelgard, where they hoped Noctis would remain safe until his return. Although nobody knew when that would be, Ignis had faith that they would see their Prince again. After all, he needed to return to fulfill his destiny. In the meantime, there was plenty of work that presented itself to Ignis and the others. With constant darkness engulfing the land, many settlements were in danger of daemon attacks, so they quickly set to work on evacuating smaller, vulnerable towns, and moving them to the safety of Lestallum. 

At least, Gladio and Prompto were evacuating. Ignis felt as though he was nothing more than a conversationalist to their passengers. He hated idly sitting around, and at times, even felt unnecessary. Ignis knew that he was capable of so much more, and when they did face the danger of a daemon attack, he easily proved his worth in battle. The rest of the trip, however, only gave Ignis time to lose himself in all his worries. 

In hopes of distracting himself, Ignis began carefully arranging his cooking supplies on the surface of the RV’s kitchenette. He’d spent plenty of time practicing cooking without his sight and found that it wasn’t so difficult, after all. The techniques were mostly muscle memory, and the right measuring cups eliminated any guesswork. Ignis didn’t even bother with his cookbook, for now. He began preparing a recipe that he knew by heart - a dessert he had baked countless times for Noctis, with just a few alterations with each serving. Good ingredients had become difficult to come by, but Ignis allowed himself to indulge a bit. He could always restock once they reached the city. 

This time, he tried three different variations of the recipe - one with brown sugar, one with a coffee-creme filling, and another with chocolate hazelnut. It wasn’t long before the sweet smells of the mini-cakes filled the vehicle. The passengers were thrilled to share such a treat, and even Prompto briefly popped back into the RV to get a bite. 

Ignis kept one coffee-creme cake for himself and cut it in half before returning to the passenger seat at the front of the vehicle. 

“Tell me what you think,” he said as he offered one of the halves to Gladio. 

“This again?” The swordsman sighed, but accepted the cake. He popped it in his mouth and replied in a muffled voice, speaking as he chewed his food, “It’s good, but I don’t know what to tell you. Don’t know how it’s supposed to taste, and Noct isn’t here.” 

“He will be, before long, and I’d like to have ideas prepared for when he returns,” Ignis explained as he nibbled his own piece. “He deserves as much, to taste that dessert once more before he--” As he spoke, Ignis’ voice grew softer until he simply trailed off. He feigned clearing his throat to buy himself a brief moment to compose himself, then continued, “Before he fulfills the prophecy.” 

Both men knew what that meant: “Before Noctis sacrifices his own life to return light to the world.” They had known the Prince’s fate all along, yet it was still difficult to think about, now that the prophecy would soon become reality. As much as they awaited Noct’s return, they knew it was a bittersweet wish, because their reunion would also mean it was time for their final goodbyes. 

“You spoil him rotten, you know that?” Ignis felt a strong hand rest on his knee and could almost hear the smirk in Gladio’s voice. “Even when he’s not here.” 

Ignis smiled softly as he placed his hand over Gladio’s, gently lacing their fingers together. “And you’ve always been too hard on him. Yet he’s still grown into a fine young man, hasn’t he?” 

There was a moment of silence from Gladio where Ignis guessed that he must have nodded in response, then quickly remembered to speak up, “Yeah. We did good.” The swordsman gave Ignis’ hand a little squeeze. “You’ll make a great dad someday.” 

“Absolutely not,” Ignis firmly replied. 

“What? Don’t tell me you never thought about it,” Gladio chuckled softly. “You’ve practically been a mother to Noct since we were kids. And thanks to these daemons, there’s plenty of orphans out there looking for a good home. Hell, Iris could even use a hand with Talcott--” 

Before Gladio could continue, Ignis sharply pulled his hand away and folded his arms over his chest. “It’s not something I’ll consider for a long while. At least not until we’re rid of all these daemons.” 

Maybe Ignis was looking too deeply into this conversation, but he suspected Gladio was trying to coerce him to remove himself from the fight. Again. Ever since the _incident_ in Altissia, Gladio had been openly vocal about Ignis stepping down. While his words had become less harsh, his meaning was still clear - he felt that Ignis would be safer if he remained in the city with all the other helpless civilians. Coercing Ignis to settle down and adopt a child - now, of all times, with a world as dangerous as this - was surely another tactic to keep him out of harm’s way. 

Time and time again, Ignis proved himself more than capable of holding his own in battle. He couldn’t believe he still had to deal with this sort of coddling. So what if he was blind? That didn’t suddenly make him a helpless infant. If anything, he thought it gave him an advantage in the darkness. While the others relied too much on their tiny flashlights, Ignis was easily able to maneuver around the battlefield without having to worry about poor lighting obstructing his field of vision. 

Before the two men could address Ignis’ sudden change in demeanor, however, the sound of a gunshot drew their attention. It was Prompto, signalling the nearby presence of daemons. Gladio pulled the RV to the side of the road and called out to the passengers as he made for the door, “Everyone hang tight, should only be a short delay.” 

Ignis began to follow, but was suddenly met with resistance as the swordsman placed a hand to his chest. “You hang back with the passengers, in case one of the daemons slips past us.” 

“Absolutely not.” Ignis firmly knocked Gladio’s arm out of the way and moved forward. “Prompto can monitor the RV just fine.” 

With the daemons moving in closer, there wasn’t any time to argue. By the sound of the continued gunfire, it seemed that Prompto remained perched on the roof of the RV and would easily be able to call out if any daemons moved too close to the vehicle. Not that he would need to, though. Ignis was perfectly aware of what enemies they faced and where they were located - a small cluster of imps just ahead, a lone ronin, and an iron giant. 

“Gladio, distract the giant,” Ignis instructed, not missing a step in assuming his usual role as a strategist. “I’ll remove the smaller annoyances so we can focus our attacks on the larger enemies.” 

The ronin charged towards Ignis, who easily dodged the daemon’s blade and countered with a dagger to his back, knocking it out into the open so Prompto could have clear shots. Ignis summoned his weapon back into his hand and threw it towards the cluster of imps, followed by the second dagger. The blades hit their marks, and once again, he recalled his weapons, not breaking his step as he finally closed the distance. Ignis slashed at his enemies with elegant sweeps of his blade, skillfully deflecting and countering the imps as they lunged at him with their claws. 

But Ignis wasn’t too focused on his own fight to neglect his companions’ progress. As he steadily eliminated the imps, Ignis heard the loud clang of the giant’s cleaver and labored breathing from Gladio. He immediately dashed away from the couple of remaining imps and hurried to the other man’s side. 

“Iggy!” the swordsman called out, but his backup had already arrived. 

Ignis lept into the air and wedged his daggers beneath a weak point in the giant’s armor. The daemon reeled and swung at its new attacker, but it was too big and slow. Ignis easily backflipped away from the creature and landed just beside Gladio. 

“Thanks,” Gladio sighed in relief and gave Ignis a quick pat on the shoulder before returning his attention to the fight. 

The two men continued fighting side-by-side, easily dispatching the last of the imps as they tried to assist the giant. With a bit of teamwork and resilience, it didn’t take much longer until Gladio and Ignis defeated the iron giant as well. 

Gladio immediately turned to his companion, who could practically feel the other man’s eyes intently looking him over. “How’re you holding up?” the swordsman asked as he raised a hand to cup Ignis’ jaw. 

“Better than you.” Once again, Ignis swatted his hand away. His focus never strayed from the battle, and he could still hear the gunfire as Prompto struggled against the ronin. 

“Uh, guys? A little help here!” the blonde called out. 

Ignis already had a lightning flask in hand, which he tossed straight at the daemon. A burst of thunderbolts clashed around the ronin, causing it to fizzle and quickly die out. The strategist could practically feel the tension leave the air as his two companions exhaled sighs of relief. 

“Well done,” Gladio commended and gave Ignis a hearty pat on the shoulder as they returned to the RV. 

That was it. Just a pat on the back. Ignis carried both of them through the entire fight, and that was all he had to show for it. Of course, he never did need anything much in return in all his years of selflessly serving the Crown. For years, Ignis always took care of the others and was simply comforted in the knowledge that the people close to him were well cared-for. He didn’t need any favors or glory, but now it pained him to know that despite his key role in supporting the team, there would always be someone to try and convince him to sit out the next fight. 

Instead of returning to the empty seat beside Gladio, Ignis chose to remain in the back of the RV with the civilians for the rest of the ride to Lestallum. None of them seemed to care about his dark-tinted glasses, or the scars that he was unable to keep hidden behind the lens. They were just happy to have someone protect them. That was what Ignis wanted - to do his part making the world a safer place until Noctis could bring back the light. 

As he spoke with the passengers, Ignis heard a small sniffling noise closer to the back of the cabin. It sounded like the slow, shaky breathing of a child trying to hold back his tears. Ignis turned his head in the direction of the child, more out of habit than actually being able to see, and held out his hand, beckoning the child closer. 

“What’s your name?” Ignis calmly asked as he felt a small hand gently rest in his palm. 

“I-it’s Rhys, sir,” the boy replied. 

“And you may call me Ignis,” he said as he gently shook the child’s hand. “Is something troubling you, Rhys?” 

“The daemons…” Rhys sniffled. “They were so scary! Is it always like that?” 

The child must have peeked out the window when the monsters attacked. Ignis sighed and offered Rhys a gentle smile. “You saw them, did you?” 

Silence. It was a fair guess to assume the child simply nodded, unaware of Ignis’ condition. 

“Well then, if you saw them, you saw us as well, did you not?” 

This time the child responded with a soft, “Mhmm.” 

“Then you’ll know these monsters are no match for my friends and me,” Ignis reassured and gave Rhys’ hand a gentle squeeze. “As long as you’re with us, you’re safe. You have my word.” 

But instead of the relieved comfort that Ignis had hoped for, he only heard more stifled sniffles. “Is something else wrong?” he carefully asked. 

“Papa said boys don’t cry,” Rhys said in a shaky voice. “He said I gotta be a man and toughen up.” 

That sounded like someone else Ignis knew. Though, he didn’t dare ask where “papa” was now. Gladio was absolutely correct when he spoke earlier of children who lost parents to daemons, which was likely the case for young Rhys here. With a sigh, Ignis reached out and rested a hand comfortingly on the child’s shoulder. 

“Just because you’re a boy doesn’t mean you don’t have feelings,” Ignis explained. “Emotions are part of what makes us human. So be strong, just like papa told you, and cry and laugh… Holding it in does you no favors.” 

As Rhys paused thoughtfully, Ignis felt small fingers gently graze up his left cheek. “What happened to your face?” 

A nearby woman responded with a mortified gasp as she hissed the boy’s name. 

“It’s quite all right,” Ignis reassured with a gentle smile. 

“Was it daemons?” Rhys prodded. 

“No, the Empire,” Ignis explained. “But I’m all right now. As you can see, I can still cook delicious cakes for you and fight off the daemons.” 

“Did _you_ cry?” 

“I did,” Ignis quietly admitted. It wasn’t something he ever spoke of with the others. No one really asked. Gladio was too furious after the incident, Noct was mourning his own loss, and Prompto had been too stressed over keeping the peace. As always, Ignis had to remain strong for the others, but there was a private moment of vulnerability where the weight of everyone’s burdens overwhelmed him to tears. He wasn’t proud of it, but he wasn’t about to admit that detail to a child just learning how to express himself. 

Suddenly, he felt a pair of arms gently wrap around his neck. In response, Ignis lifted a hand to comfortingly pat Rhys on the back. 

“Thanks, Mr. Ignis,” the child replied, “but I don’t think I need to cry anymore.” 

“Glad I could help,” Ignis replied as Rhys pulled back. “I’m here anytime you’d like to talk.” 

As the child returned to his seat, the woman nearby whispered a soft “thank you” to Ignis. This whole exchange reminded Ignis of his earlier conversation with Gladio. Perhaps he would make a decent parent, after all. It was a nice thought, being able to settle down and raise a couple of these orphaned children with Gladio by his side, but that simply wasn’t a reality Ignis ever thought possible. His whole life, he never thought about his own future. Ignis had always been too concerned fussing over Noctis. 

Though even now that the Prince was absent, Ignis still felt too guilty thinking about what he might want out of life. How could he be so selfish to think about his own future, when Noctis had none? For all Ignis knew, he might, himself, not even survive to see the world restored. He surely wouldn’t with his head in the clouds, that was for certain. There was no use in distracting himself with fantasies of what could never happen while daemons ruled the land. Until the prophecy would be fulfilled, Ignis needed to stay focused on the harsh reality of this life and continue dedicating himself to his responsibilities.


End file.
